Translating device



Dec. 7 v

' T. PRESCOTT TRANSLATING DEVICE Filed Sept. 1925 J12 Blunf I34 Blue I39BlacklSZBe C 3Clean no cm l7Conf s Can Cold ch 57 Car- Gl Candie CakeBlCandy SSCap INVENTOR 4 Dirty 2| Dry '55 Day 76 Dee z 1 om mm 158 BYATTORNEY Patented Dec. 7, 1926 r ntense THOMAS PRESCOTT, OF STOCKTON,CALIFORNIA.

TRANSLATING DEVICE.

7 Application filcd September This invention relates to a device fortranslating one language into another, my principal object being toprovide a device for the purpose by means of which any person mayquickly and easily, and without mental effort or knowledge of spellingfind the translation of words in a different language from that withwhich he is conversant and from which he desires to trans late.

The device is of such a nature that it may be readily provided with avocabulary of generous size for two or more languages concurrently,without taking up much space, and the ribbons on which the words areprinted may be easily removed and others of different languagessubstituted therefor, as the user may require,

No turning of pages is necessary as must be done withthe use of atranslatingdictionary, and the ribbons are so arranged that they areprotected from manual handling and will last indefinitely withoutbecoming soiled or worn out.

The method I employ in making translations by the use of my device issuch that after some little practice the user will be able to find wordsand form sentences therefrom much more rapidly than with the use of adictionary.

A further object of the invention is to produce. a simple andinexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly effec tive forthe purpose for which it is designed.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and, relativearrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the followingspecification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the several views: I

Fig. 1 is a perspective elevation of the device.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of the translation ribbon,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary View of the index or reference ribbon.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawings, the numeral 1 denotes a casing of suitable dimensionspreferably having a front verti- 15, 1925. Serial No. 56,556.

cal wall 2 and a front horizontal wall 3 below said vertical wall.

Mounted in the casing behind the wall 2 are spools 4 and5 verticallyspaced.

The upper spool 4 has a pinion 6 engaged by a gear 7 whose shaft 8projects through one side of the casing and has a crank handle 9 fixedon the outer end thereof. The rotative movement of this handle islimited in one direction by a stop pin 10.

A ribbon sheeting 11. is removably secured to the spools in anysuitable. manner so as to extend betweenwthe spools adjacent the frontwall2. This ribbon is normally held wound onto the spool 5 by a spiralspring 12 extending between said spool and its fixed shaft 13. Thegearing between the handle 9 and spool t is so arranged that said springalso tends to hold the handle 9 against the stop pin 10, in whichposition the ribbon 11 is about unwound from the spool 4:.

The ribbon has impressed thereon in vertically spaced lines any numberof words in English or otherbase language being used, and itstranslationrin another language as shown at 14, Preferably. there is oneword and its translation on each line, each base word being given anarbitrary number as indicated at 15. These numbers however preferablyare arranged from the numeral 1 up, the said numeral being given to thefirst word at the top of the ribbon 11. To enable any'line to be seenfrom the front of the casing, the wall 2 is provided with a horizontalslot 16, which may have a magnifying glass arranged in connectiontherewith if the wording on the ribbon is in very fine printing. 7

Mounted in the casing under the wall 3 are horizontally spaced spools 17and 18 about which a ribbon sheet19 is wound, so as to exten'dadjacjentthe wall 3. A spring 20 is associated with the spool 18 so as to causethe ribbon to be normally wound thereon. The spool 17 is provided with ahandle 21 preferably operable from the side of the casing opposite tothe handle 9.

The ribbon 19 has a complete vocabulary printed thereon, only in Englishor other base language, said vocabulary referably being arranged inalphabetically grouped IUU units, as shown at 22. Each word of thevocabulary has an index number adjacent thereto which is the same as thenumber of the corresponding base word on the ribbon To enable a numberof words of the index ribbon to be visible at one time, the wall 3 has atransverse opening 23 therein. One side wall of the casing is preferablyremovable so that the spools may be withdrawn to remove the ribbons andsubstitute others if desired.

In operation the device is placed on a desk or the like with theoperator sitting in front of the same. Turning the handle 21 with onehand he locates the desired word in the vocabulary, notes the indexnumber thereof, and with the other hand turns the handle 9 until thecorresponding index number is visible through the slit 16. The worddesired, together with its translation will be thus exposed to view. Theoperations are then re peated for as many words as may be neces sary. 7

Very little practice is suiiiclent to enable the average person tobecome proficient in operating the device so that translation from onelanguage to another may be quickly made with no mental and but littlephysical effort.

Though only one form of language is shown, any number of languages maybe included by widening the device so as to allow of a. width of line onthe ribbon 11 sufficient to accommodate a number of differenttranslations of any words from a single base language.

The gearing between the handle 9 and the spool 4 enables a rapid andgreat movement of the ribbon 11 to be had with but a slight movement ofthe handle.

If the device is to be used for translating from either language intothe other, the ribbon 19 also has a vocabulary in the foreign languageas indicated at The words of said foreign vocabulary would have the sameindex numbers as the equivalent words in English or other base language.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

l/Vhile this specification sets forth in detail the present andpreferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviationsfrom such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from thespirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claimas new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is: p

l. A translating device including a ribbon, wording arranged therein inlines each consisting of a word in a base language and its translationinto another language, an additional ribbon having a vocabulary of thebase language arranged thereon in alphabetical order, and a common indexsymbol. for each vocabulary word and the corresponding word on the firstribbon.

2. A. translating device comprising a casing having spaced horizontalslits in one face, spools turnably mounted in the casing, a ribbon woundon the spools to pass adjacent one'slit, wording arranged in horizontallines on the ribbon, each line consisting of a word in a base languagefollowed by its translation into another language, other spools turnablymounted in the casing in spaced relation to the first spools, a ribbonwound on said other spools to pass adjacent the other slit, a vocabularyof the base language printed in alphabetical order on the last namedribbon, and a common arbitrary index symbol acen t each word ofthemcabulary and the corresponding base-language word on the first namedribbon.

3. A translating device including a ribbon, wording arranged inhorizontal lines thereon, each line consisting of a word in a baselanguage followed by its translation into another language, separatevocabularies of said languages. arranged in connection with the device,andan arbitrary index symbol placed adjacent the base-language word ofeach line of wording on the ribbon; said symbol being also placedadjacent the corresponding Word in both languages'of the vocabulary.

4. A translating device including a longitudinally movable ribbon,wording arranged in transverse lines on said ribbon, each lineconisisting of a word in one language and its translation into another,an additional longitudinally movable ribbon, a vocabulary of onelanguage arranged in lines on said. last named ribbon, each word of thevocabulary and the corresponding word on the irst ribbon having a commonarbitrary index symbol placed adjacent thereto, the symbols for thedifferent words being alldifferent.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature THOMAS PRESCOTT.

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